Examination of self-handicapping and self-esteem levels of the students studying at faculty of sport sciences

The aim of this study is to examine the self-handicapping and self-esteem levels of the students at the Faculty of Sport Sciences. Six hundred and ninety-four students (441 male and 253 female) studying at the Faculty of Sport Sciences of Hitit University in the academic year of 2019-2020 were participated in the study. The Ethics Committee approval was obtained from Hitit University Non-Interventional Researches Ethics Committee. Written consents were obtained from the participants prior to the study. SPSS 22.0 statistical software was used to analyze data. The Self Handicapping Scale (SHS) developed by Jones and Rhodewalt, adapted to Turkish by Akin (2012), was used to determine the self-handicapping levels of the participants. Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (SES) developed by Rosenberg, adapted to Turkish by Cuhardaroglu (1986), was used to assess the self-esteem levels of the participants. Descriptives were presented as mean, standard deviation, frequency, and percentages. The scores of the subjects on the self-handicapping and self-esteem scales were shown as mean ± standard deviation. As analyses of the data revealed that the self-handicapping and self-esteem scores were not normally distributed, non-parametric tests were used. Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare differences between groups and Kruskal-Wallis H test was used to compare differences among groups. The significance level for statistical analyses was determined as p<.05. As a result, it was found that there was a moderate but negative (p<.01) relationship between the self-handicapping and self-esteem scores of the subjects. It was also found that there were significant differences (p<.05) between SHS and SES scores in having pedagogical education, the status of the place where the participants spent most of their lives, monthly average income level of the family, education levels of the parents and sports branch. It was also found that there was no significant difference (p>0.05) in gender, academic achievement, employment statuses of the parents, and being a licensed athlete. As a result, self-handicapping scores of the participants and their self-esteem levels were found to be negatively but moderately correlated (r=-0,499; p<0,001).